Building Wood Driveway Gate

Hi All,

I'm considering putting in a wooden gate on my driveway, in order to keep my dog from accessing the front gate. If you take a look at the image, I've color-coded the various aspects.

Cyan = Proposed Gate
Magenta = Posts
Red = Swing lines (depending on which side the hinges will be on)
Green = Various measurements
Yellow = Concrete area next to the house

There are a few issues that I'm up against. First, the driveway is narrow. I have a truck that is 75" wide including side mirrors. The driveway is 83" wide when you account for the gutter downspout. Second, I'd really prefer not attaching anything to my house.

Originally, I had wanted to anchor a single steel (2.5x2.5) or wood (4x4) post (in the yellow area) and attach an 8' gate that swings back and away from the property line fence. But taking into account leverage, I thought against it. I considered a two-door approach, however with that route I'd lose 3–5" of driveway width in the property line side, leaving only 3" of play to squeeze through. What do you think?

On another note, say the post could bear the weight, would there be a problem drilling into the concrete right next to house. It's not related to the health of the foundation, right?

Thanks!

Interesting problem. A double gate is best in terms of weight distribution and leverage. but the post on the right could be an issue in terms of narrow passage. my first thought is to move the gutter to the front of the building to give you back some precious inches. My second thought is to get a sub-compact car . Of course, you could move the gate to the rear, or provide fencing for the dog that keeps it out of the driveway all together.
Is the gate going to be mechanized? manual? Do you have room for it to swing out with your truck in front of it ( does your truck have to stick out on to the road for the gate to swing?) What about a sliding gate? There might be room for that to clear against the front of your house.

That photo is actually a shot of the back of the house. The driveway runs about 35' toward the street from the corner of the house that's in the photo, where it widens into the yard. The main yard fence is along the sidewalk. There is a sliding wrought-iron where the driveway narrows, that is attached to the house. So this would be a third gate, but the only completely "opaque" gate that the dog wouldn't be able to see through.

I'm beginning to think that this job isn't worth the work. I may just build a hedge planter box instead, the same width as the prospective gate, and put it there to block the dog. In the event that she somehow makes it past, at least there are two screen gates she can't get through. I didn't want passersby to mess with her or her to bark at them when I wasn't home. But at least she can't escape.

I don't park the truck in the very back often, but I also didn't want anything permanent that would impede.

Bring it down to the height of the black fence.
Build the gate with the notch ouyt for the concrete wall so when ii is close it actually sits on the wall.
Plant your post about 1 ft this side of the house so you can dig there with out disturbing any drain pipe that would be on top of the footing.
Use a treated 6x6 deep to provide good strength to resist the weight of the gate. build the extention from post to house and attach it to the post before you plant the post.

You could probably attach an opaque panel to the lower part of the fence or gate so the dog can't see out.